Yeah, once again the in-show car commercial was obnoxiously blatant. Other shows are able to work them in somewhat more subtly, even make them legitimate parts of the story (White Collar is good at incorporating the "look at this SUV's special features" bits into the plot), but this show's approach is just clunky, jarring, and intrusive.
I've seen episodes of two other shows in the past week that managed to incorporate blatant and extensive product placement into the stories in a way that didn't feel forced, but just felt like something happening in the real world with real products/services instead of made-up substitutes. CSI:NY did an episode set at a gaming convention where Gears of War 3 was a plot point (and Halo from the same company was referenced, though I think there was one ersatz game as well). And Fairly Legal had a subplot about the main characters' friends trying to talk her into joining Facebook (I assume there was some promotional consideration there). In both cases it felt like a natural part of the world, and the portrayal of the products wasn't so completely glowing that it felt like a promo (the video game was a motive in the murder, and Kate was highly skeptical of Facebook and didn't change her mind about not joining -- though maybe this will be a recurring sponsored plot thread like that awful thing Eureka did with deodorant a couple of years ago).
I've seen episodes of two other shows in the past week that managed to incorporate blatant and extensive product placement into the stories in a way that didn't feel forced, but just felt like something happening in the real world with real products/services instead of made-up substitutes. CSI:NY did an episode set at a gaming convention where Gears of War 3 was a plot point (and Halo from the same company was referenced, though I think there was one ersatz game as well). And Fairly Legal had a subplot about the main characters' friends trying to talk her into joining Facebook (I assume there was some promotional consideration there). In both cases it felt like a natural part of the world, and the portrayal of the products wasn't so completely glowing that it felt like a promo (the video game was a motive in the murder, and Kate was highly skeptical of Facebook and didn't change her mind about not joining -- though maybe this will be a recurring sponsored plot thread like that awful thing Eureka did with deodorant a couple of years ago).
